Over an eight-year period ending in 2018, Murad, a U.S. cosmetics company, illegally exported goods and services to Iran in 62 separate transactions worth approximately $11 million. Murad was acquired by Unilever United...more
The National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs has recommended that The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) discontinue the claim that Olay Premium body wash “improves skin 3X better” than the leading body wash....more
Last month, the UK Supreme Court overturned the judgment of the Court of Appeal and allowed a claim for damages from claimants in the Niger Delta to proceed against Royal Dutch Shell plc and its local subsidiary Shell...more
The Court’s decision rested on whether the patents provided outstanding benefit to the employer’s undertaking. On 23 October, the UK Supreme Court (UKSC) handed down its highly anticipated ruling in Shanks v Unilever [2019]...more
On 4 July 2018, the Court of Appeal in the UK handed down its judgment in AAA and Others v Unilever PLC and Another [2018] EWCA Civ 1532, in which the claimants sued Unilever PLC (Unilever) in tort for acts of its subsidiary...more
On 4 July 2018, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in AAA & Ors. v Unilever PLC and Unilever Tea Kenya Limited [2018] EWCA Civ 1532, dismissing an appeal by victims of the 2007 post-election violence in Kenya....more
On April 4, 2018, Unilver announced a partnership with Ioniqa and Indorama Ventures to pioneer a technology that converts Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) waste back into transparent virgin grade material for use in food...more
There’s falling from grace, and then there’s Elizabeth Holmes. Once compared glowingly to Steve Jobs, Holmes’ well-documented Theranos ills (including exaggerated and faked blood-test results) have landed her with SEC...more
Earlier this month, Unilever made headlines by accidently naming its new soap after Kim Jong Un. The shower gel line, created by a Korean designer and aimed at urban millennials in China, is called KJU....more
Food and consumer products conglomerate Unilever’s making a big play for the Asian market with its $2.7 billion deal to buy Carver Korea, a South Korean-based skin care specialist....more
In a recent decision, the High Court has ruled that Unilever plc (Unilever), the ultimate holding company of the Unilever Group, does not owe a duty of care to protect the employees and residents of a tea plantation owned and...more
The Colgate-Palmolive Company (Tom’s of Maine “Naturally Dry” Antiperspirant), NARB Panel Report No. 215 (Jan. 25, 2017) - A National Advertising Review Board (NARB) panel determined that the National Advertising...more
The City of Cincinnati is suing Harbour Portfolio Advisors—“one of the nation’s largest sellers of foreclosed homes”—for skipping out on housing code violations and for targeting buyers with “predatory and unconscionable”...more
Shareholders have accused Under Armour of “concealing the impact” of Sports Authority’s bankruptcy from investors in order to artificially inflate its stock price. The suit comes on the heels of a disastrous Q4 for UA, in...more
We learned about KraftHeinz’s offer to merge with Unilever only after it had been rejected. And now it appears to be off the table completely—all $143 billion of it....more
Acting SEC Chair Michael Piwowar has reportedly scaled back some of the agency’s enforcement staff’s use of delegated authority by funneling all subpoena issuance and probe initiation through the SEC’s director of...more
The UK Court of Appeal confirmed on 18 January that an employee was not entitled to any compensation from his employer for the income generated by his patented inventions, as the returns did not amount to an “outstanding...more
And just like that, Uber’s ride-hailing war in China is over (for now, at least). Uber has agreed to sell Uber China to rival Didi Chuxing [though maintaining a 20% stake in the new company], creating a new company worth an...more
We heard last week about Unilever’s $1 billion acquisition of start-up Dollar Shave Club. With a few days to reflect, the Deal Professor suggests that this relatively innocuous deal should make “every other company . . . very...more
We’ve heard about VW’s $15 billion settlement to resolve US claims by owners and regulators, but a spate of recent state AG-led actions shows that the fallout from the emissions cheating scandal is far from over. NY, MA, and...more
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a class settlement over objection in a case involving a hair-smoothing product (“the Smoothing Kit”) that allegedly destroyed users’ hair and burned their scalps. Plaintiffs sued...more
The big news this quarter is the U.S. Supreme Court’s acceptance of Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, an employment case likely to have major ramifications across the whole spectrum of class action litigation. The Court is set...more
The International Campaign Against Microbeads in Cosmetics is most likely celebrating this week, following the California State Legislature’s passage of a bill that would prohibit the use of plastic microbeads in personal...more
A bluntly labeled section of the Code of Federal Regulations – “Mayonnaise” – provides a description of this particular food dressing, the food’s required ingredients, optional ingredients, and how to declare those...more
In two recent decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB or Board), the Board denied petitioner requests for rehearing by an expanded panel under 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c). Conopco, Inc. dba Unilever v. Procter & Gamble,...more